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England Travel: London uses Olympics as a tourism springboard for 2013

New parks and a glittering new skyline add to the appeal of London for travelers this year.

The Shard, western Europe's tallest building, is seen behind the Tower of London. (REUTERS)

By Arthur FrommerSpecial to the Star

Mon., April 8, 2013

Because Great Britain clearly is the most popular trans-Atlantic destination among North Americans, it behooves us all to stay current with touristic developments there, both for the purpose of recommending visits by others or for affecting our own vacation plans. And among those developments, the British are claiming that the ability of tourists to visit, and even use, some of the facilities that were built for the 2012 London Olympics is a new and potent reason for a visit.

Beginning July 27, the one-year anniversary of the start of the 2012 Olympics, the British will open the Queen Elizabeth Olympics Park, which is of immense size. It’s an area of London that encompasses most of the major Olympics stadiums and other sports arenas (including those housing giant swimming pools), of which most will now be open to visits by the public (imagine yourself sprinting around the quarter-mile track used by long-distance Olympics competitors). In fact, if I understand correctly, according to a recent statement by a spokesperson for VisitBritain (the official government tourist office of Great Britain), it will now even be possible for members of the public to splash away in the famous swimming pools of those 2012 games.

Visitors will be able to arrange their own direct visits to the Olympics Park, or they will be able to sign up for commercial visits offered by tour operators as part of their standard half-day or full-day tours of London.

Another major London attraction — the London Shard — is already open to the public and has been admitting visitors since February (several million people a year are expected to visit it).

And what is the London Shard? It’s an immense skyscraper of unprecedented height for Britain, which got that name in the many violent attacks upon the decision to build it several years ago, when opponents claimed it would resemble a glass shard — they meant this negatively, and feared a disturbing architectural interference with the traditional look of London. Sponsors of the project thereupon adopted the name “Shard” as a positive term to explain what they were building.

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The London Shard is now the tallest building in the European Union, an Empire State-like structure 95 storeys high, its surface almost totally of glass, and located near London Bridge, in what might be considered the heart of London. Designed by famous Italian architect Renzo Piano, it now towers over London in the same way that the Empire State Building hovers over Manhattan. And it has a four-storey-high observation platform on its 72nd floor, from which visitors will have a hitherto-unavailable view extending for many miles around London. I’ve heard one claim that you’ll actually be able to see Oxford from the London Shard, but haven’t been able to confirm that possibly overambitious assertion.

Admission to the observation platform of the London Shard will be the equivalent of $35, but despite that high tab, the building’s owners are expecting visits by millions of residents and tourists. And London tourist officials are hoping that the Shard will now become an outstanding attraction of the city, in the same way that the Empire State Building often is regarded as the most important and popular sight to visit in New York.

How can you best prepare for a visit to Britain? In a recent meeting I had with the marketing director of VisitBritain, it was stressed that one of that organization’s most potent aids to visitors is its special website called VisitBritainShop.com. There, the British tourist office offers substantial discounts to persons who make advance purchases of some of the transportation schemes — like the London Oyster Card enabling multiple London subway trips for less — and admission tickets to important attractions. Though some of these devices can also be purchased at the various London airports on arrival, purchasing them in advance through VisitBritainShop.com permits you to avoid the long lines that sometimes form at the airport shops selling them, in addition to saving you money.

Another related website, VisitBritain.com supplies general information on travel to Britain, as does the website of British Airways, BA.com, which supplements its sale of air tickets with that advice. Consulting all three websites in advance of your trip may prove highly advantageous.

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